Friday, July 23, 2010

Regional council adopts treaty model for resources

Hawkes Bay Regional Council is to share management of natural resources in its region with the 12 iwi in its area.

Taro Waaka from Ngati Pahauwera says the co-management committee, approved by Cabinet this week to clear the way for the treaty settlements, will be responsible for all matters covered by the Resource Management Act.

He says councilors have recognised that iwi have a lot of contribute to on the ground management because of their kaitiaki responsibilities.

“This is an opportunity, a breakthrough whereby we can get some meaningful discussion, meaningful input by sitting beside councilors influencing things at a higher level,” Mr Waaka says.

The new committee is likely to improve relations between claimant groups and help with the way treaty settlements in the area are structured.

RECOMMENDATIONS OF PAST RAPPORTEUR STILL LANGUISHING

The United Nations special rapporteur on indigenous rights winds up a week-long visit to New Zealand today, with Maori he has met with hoping for strong words on issues like the foreshore and seabed, resolution of claims to radio spectrum and recognition of tino rangatiratanga.

Tukoroirangi Morgan, the chair of the Waikato-Tainui executive, says James Anaya is an acknowledge expert in international law as it relates to indigenous peoples, and his words will carry weight outside this country.

He says it would be a mistake for the government to treat his report like that of his predecessor Rudolfo Stavenhagen, whose 23 recommendations were ignored.

“Notable in those recommendations were three elements that go to the heart of our treaty settlements: that the Waitangi Tribunal should be given legally binding powers; that the Waitangi Tribunal should be given significant resources; and that the Treaty of Waitangi should be entrenched as part of this country's constitution,” Mr Morgan says.

YOUTH MOBILISE AGAINST LIQUOR STORE OPENING

The chair of a South Auckland community group says young people are driving a protest against more liquor outlets being planted into their neighbourhoods.

Waian Emery from the Clendon Community Support Group says a shop that was awarded a liquor licence this week is in the same complex where community pressure stopped a similar application three years ago.

She says it's an area with a high Maori and Pacific Island population that already is well served by liquor stores.

The march is planned for July 31.

SENSITIVITY SHOWN IN UN OFFICIAL’S VISIT

Maori affairs minister Pita Sharples says UN special rapporteur James Anaya has shown great sensitivity towards Maori concerns during his visit to New Zealand.

Dr Sharples invited Professor Anaya to New Zealand when he signed the UN Declaration on Indigenous Peoples Rights in New York earlier this year.

He says the Apache lawyer had a hectic schedule during his week-long visit, meeting with Maori groups and virtually every government minister dealing with Maori issues.

“Right from the beginning he’s shown the sort of sensitivity which can only come from, to me, in my view, come from an indigenous person himself who are living that sort of life and he is an Apache, and he shows all the sensitivity round indigenous issues we would expect,” Dr Sharples says.

A farewell dinner tonight will be an opportunity to tell Professor Anaya how great it has been to have him here.

STARS THE CATALYST FO9R MAORI SPORTING GROWTH

A sports researcher says many codes would benefit if they can bring through some high quality Maori or Pacific players.

Ryan Holland from Massey University has been looking at the lower levels of participation by Maori and Pacific Islanders in coaching and sports administration.

He says many of the codes he's talked too have few Maori involved anyway as players, but that can change quickly.

“It just takes the presence of one or two Maori or Pacific people in a sport to encourage more to get involved. I think that’s a sort of a key finding that keeps coming back from these sports that haven’t got Pacific Island or Maori in, they’re saying if we get that one person there it’s sort of like a breakthrough and young people can look at that person and say ‘I want to be involved in that sport’ because there’s someone they can relate to,” Mr Holland says.

Having Maori in sports administration can boost the achievement on the Maori on the players in that code.

NATI MATCHITT DIES AT 105

Te Whanau a Apanui and east Coast iwi are mourning for Hararata Poiwa Matchett of Te Te kaha, who died this week at the age of 105.

Mrs Matchitt was the mother of seven children, including artist Paratene Matchitt.

Writer Keri Kaa, who grew up in Te Kaha, says Mrs Matchitt was known as Nati because of her Ngati Porou connections.

“I remember her as hard working and always at the marae doing the hard slog. She was never out the front doing the decorative bits. She was the hands at the backl. Haere kui. Haere te wahine rangatira ki te Marae o Hinenui te Po,” Ms Kaa says.

Law change to break aquaculture bottleneck

An expert on marine farming moves to free up a bottleneck in aquaculture licences is good news for Maori and the country as a whole.

The government intends to legislate changes to the regional coastal plans in Tasman and Waikato which it considers present significant barriers to aquaculture growth.

In other regions, the aquaculture unit within the Ministry of Fisheries will work with councils to improve sustainable aquaculture development opportunities.Vaughan Payne, the policy manager with Environment Waikato, says the council welcomes the move.

“Going through Environment Court appeals and all that sort of thing, the Government wants to short cut that process and just insert that into our plan which note everyone will be happy with but I think from a big picture point of view, growing our economy, I think it’s a good thing,” Mr Payne says.

The changes will allow a stalled development in the Wilson’s Bay marine farming zone in the Firth of Thames to go ahead, as well as a major offshore development that Whakatohea has planned in the eastern Bay of Plenty.

CARVERS NAMES FOR NETHERLANDS PROJECT

Four kaimahi whakairao are off to Holland to carve a whare waka.

The house at the Volkunkunde Museum in Leiden will house the canoe Te Hono ki Aotearoa, which is going on permanent loan.

Tamahou Temara, the operations manager for Toi Maori says Takirirangi and Hinangaroa Smith from Ngati Kahungunu, Sam Hauwaho from Tuhoe, and Brett Rollo from Ngapuhi will carve barge boards and posts during their four-week stay.

He says like the waka, there a safeguards in place for the pieces, with Toi Maori retaining ownership so they would come back if the museum’s circumstances change.

CAM FERGUSON TAKES SHEARING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

We have another Maori world champion.Cam Ferguson from Waipawa has become the first Maori to win a world shearing title, beating team-mate David Fagan to win the individual machine shearing title at the championships in Wales.

He also teamed up with Fagan to win the world teams' title.

Shearing New Zealand's media officer, Doug Laing, says the 26-year-old Te Aute old boy is over the moon about the win.

“Just one year ago he had only won three open championship titles in his life. He was a Golden Shears senior champion back in 2004 and not a lot of those guys actually end up making the grade at the top level in the open class. It takes a lot of commitment to make it at this level and to see him winning the Golden Shears open title in Masterton to get into this team and then to win the world championship is really a phenomenal achievement,” Mr Laing says.

New Zealand also picked up the world wool handling team title

INDIGENOUS RIGHTS RAPPORTEUR WILL SHAPE VIEWS

Tainui chairperson Tukoroirangi Morgan hopes the Government will pay heed to the report of the United Nations special rapporteur on indigenous rights.The rapporteur, James Anaya, had a session at Turangawaewae Marae yesterday with Tainui and King Tuheitia as part of his week-long visit to New Zealand.

Mr Morgan says not one of the 23 recommendations made by his predecessors, Rudolfo Stavenhagen, has been adopted, including calls for the Waitangi Tribunal to be given binding powers and more resources, and the Treaty of Waitangi to be entrenched in the constitution.

He says the statement by Prime Minister John Key, that any recommendations made by Professor Anaya would not bind the New Zealand Government, is shortsighted.

“The UN rapporteur may not have binding powers in relation to his report on this governance report card but he does bring some enormous global influence on how people shape their views of New Zealand and how the government plays its role here in this country,” Mr Morgan says.

The president of the Council of Trade Union, Helen Kelly, is challenging the Prime minister's claim that the 90-day trial period for new employees has created job opportunities for young Maori.

Mr Key has used a Labour Department survey to dismiss Maori Party reservations about the effectiveness of the policy, saying it showed many small companies had taken on staff because of it.

But Ms Kelly says Mr Key is cherry-picking the survey's findings.

“That survey showed that 22 percent of these people employed under the 90 day probationary period were sacked unfairly within that 90 days and that’s the real story of that survey. Many many of them were young people and I can guarantee many many of them were probably young Maori people and the damage to them and the unfairness to them is excusable,” Ms Kelly says.

SHORT FILM TRUE TO LIFE FOR FORMER GANG LEADER

A former mobster says it wasn't hard for him to play the role that won him best actor in a short film at the Wairoa Maori Film festival.

Tuhoe Isaac was in the Mongrel Mob for 35 years before a near death situation drove him to re-examine his life and become an evangalist ... a story he recounted in his memoirs, True Red.

Mr Isaac says his role in the 10 minute film "Day Trip" mirrored aspects of his life.

The film is about of young gang member saying goodbye to the gang lifestyle.

Day Trip also features in the Digital shorts section at this year's New Zealand International Film Festival.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Ngapuhi asserts sovereignty to UN rep

The United Nations special rapporteur on indigenous rights, James Anaya, has been kept busy on his first visit to Aotearoa.

Yesterday Professor Anaya attended a hui of about 500 people at Te Ti Marae at Waitangi, before going on to meet the Iwi leaders Forum in Auckland.

Taitokerau MP Hone Harawira, who chaired the Waitangi hui, says many people wanted to talk about the Declaration of Independence which preceded the Treaty of Waitangi, and about the constitutional issues being raised in the Northland claims now before the Waitangi Tribunal.

“People talked in particular about the issue Ngapuhi is raising at the moment which is that they never ceded sovereignty in the treaty and they wanted him to take that back and make it a major part of his report, certainly from the Taitokerau, so that the world understood how serious Ngapuhi takes this issue,” Mr Harawira says.

Today Professor Anaya has met King Tuheitia and Tainui and with Ngai Tuhoe at Ngaruawahia, and he's going on to meet with the Crown's chief treaty settlement negotiators.

LOAN SHARK BILL REFUSAL A DISGRACE SAYS GREEN

Greens co-leader Meteria Turei says National's refusal to let an anti-loan sharking bill go through to a select committee was a disgrace.

Ms Turei says unscrupulous lenders are preying on poor Maori and Pacific Island communities, and something needs to be done about it.

“Maori have worked really hard to fight this too, the support legislation like this, to work with communities to try to find alternatives, but if you don’t have the law to regulate the business, there are some in the business who are crooks who will take advantage of that,” she says.

PARENTS LITERACY CRITICAL TO EDUCATION OF CHILDREN

The head of Adult Literacy Aotearoa says parents who can't read are the forgotten factor when it comes to raising the literacy levels of New Zealand children.

Brownyn Yates says she endorses the call from the Minister of Tertiary Education, Stephen Joyce, that more needs to be done about the million adults who are being held back because they lack essential literacy and numeracy skills.

She says Maori are disproportionately represented in that figure ... and that has an impact on those around them.

“Parents are the ones at home who are encouraging their kids, and if we want to address children’s literacy, I think we need to address parents literacy, I don’t think there is enough connection made between the role of the parent and encouraging and having educational aspirations for their kids and then being able to follow it through,” Ms Yates says.

WAITANGI TRIBUNAL SLAMS OFF TOPIC EVIDENCE

The Waitangi Tribunal has upset some Ngapuhi claimants by criticising the quality of some of the evidence put before it in the Northland hearings.

In a memorandum turning down a request for eight extra days of hearings, the presiding officer, Maori Land Court judge Craig Coxhead, says much of what was presented in the second week of hearings was not focused on the seven questions the tribunal wanted evidence on.

The large number of witnesses put up meant most did not have enough time to present.

Lawyer Tavake Barron-Afeaki says while the judge did not name names, he has upset some claimants.

“He applied a broad brush stroke approach to say lots of the evidence wasn’t relevant and should be heard later in the inquiry process. He didn’t raise that at the time and he didn’t tell that to the witnesses or have arguments or ask questions about it or cross examine those people or raise it in the hearings,” Mr Barron-Afeake says.

Week three of hearings is at Panguru starting on August 9, and an extra three days has been added at Waitangi in December for closing submissions.

HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION PRAISES WAKATU MENTORING

The Human Rights Commission says Nelson-based Wakatu Incorporation's boardroom mentoring programme is a model other companies both maori and non-Maori should consider.

Moana Eruera, a senior advisor equal opportunities, says the commission talked to more than 3000 companies on what made the ideal workplace.

He says Wakatu's idea of identifying business-savvy shareholders in their 30s and giving them associate directorships stood out.

“Governance in Aotearoa is an issue, particularly representation of women, Maori, Pacific and other minorities, so the associate director scheme at Wakatu struck us as being an initiative that could be replicated and that made a real effort to get young Maori professionals experience in the Boardroom,” Mr Eruera says.

Schemes such as Whakatu's are just the medicine for encouraging leaders of the future to stay in New Zealand, or to return home with skills gained overseas.

BULLOCK REVIVALIST DOUG KATAE DIES

One of the last bullockies was farewelled today in Wairoa.

Doug Katae from Ngati Porou, who died earlier this week, scored an acting role in the Tom Cruise movie The Last Samurai because his bullock team only understood commands in Maori.

Ikaroa Rawhiti MP Parekura Horomia says he was also proud of his Spanish ancestor, Jose Manuel, who built the family homestead Val Verede where Mr Katae was raised in Tikitiki.

He eventually went to Spain and made connections with whanau over there which are set to endure.

Hiring mystery job policy justification

The Prime Minister, John Key, has rejected Maori Party skepticism about the 90-day probation period for new employees.

The government wants to extend to policy to all workplaces.

But the Maori Party has indicated it won't back the move, because the existing policy hasn't created job opportunities in small firms for young Maori.

“I don't think you can make that claim. I certainly don’t think you can make that claim from a basis of fact. And the reason for that is firstly it is very difficult to know whether every person gets hired, we don’t know why they get hired,” Mr Key says.

He says a Department of Labour survey indicates the probation period has encouraged many small companies to take on staff.

BOOK AWARDS HIGHLIGHT OVERLOOKED BOOKS

The organiser of the Nga Kupu Ora Maori Book Awards says many outstanding books of Maori interest get overlooked among the mass published each year.

They include biographies of pioneering ethnographer Elsdon Best, comedian Billy T James and Ned and Kataraina Nathan, histories of Te Urewera and the Taranaki Wars, essays on the Treaty of Waitangi claim process, a collection of proverbs, a report on the last Te Matatini national kapa haka competitions and Huia Publishers' eighth short story collection.

Mr Lilley says his favourites are the three finalists in the architecture and design section: Richard Sundt's study of early Maori church buildings, Nicholas Thomas and Mark Adams book on carver Tene Wairere and Julia Paama-Pengelly's young adults' guide to Maori weaving, painting, carving and architecture.

Voting can be done at Massey University libraries or online at tinyurl.com/ngakupuora

WANANGA TO GROOM TOMORROW’S SURF STARS

Sixteen young Maori surfers are better prepared for this summer's surfing competitions after a wanaga at Pukehina Marae in the eastern bay of Plenty.

Daniel Proctor, the Maori development coach for Surfing New Zealand, says Te Puni Kokiri-funded wananga will also be held in Gisborne and Raglan before the summer.

He says the grommets, aged between 8 and 16, were shown some of the techniques put Maori like Daniel Kereopa and Airini and Sarah Mason into the top ranks.

Daniel Proctor says Mount Maunganui primary schooler Kehu Butler stood out at the wananga as an outstanding surfer to watch.

LAND SALE LESSON IN POPULISM

Prime Minister John Key says selling productive land to foreigners can be detrimental to New Zealand's welfare ... but the zero sale policy proposed by Taitokerau MP Hone Harawira is a step too far.

He says the government is considering a review of the Overseas Investment Act to see whether the tests on land sales need to altered.

“We don't want to end up as tenants in our own country so you have got a situation where I think you do have to consider how much land is sold offshore in the productive base because that’s the bit that is ultimately going to pay for New Zealand’s wealth. One of the reasons our current account deficit is so bad is because so much foreign investment means all of that income flows offshore,” Mr Key says.

MAORI ADMINISTRATORS COULD IMPROVE OVERALL PERFORMANCE

The author of a study on sports administration says getting more Maori and Pacific Island people involved in coaching and management would boost the achievement of players from those groups on the playing field.

Ryan Holland talked with almost 100 sports organisations as part of his doctoral study on diversity in sports governance and leadership.

He found Maori and Pacifika peoples are hesitant to put their names forward, in part because of a traditional feeling that people are born into leadership roles.

“If you look at some of our main sports, the likes of rugby, rugby league, netball, touch, and volleyball, there’s a high percentage of playing numbers from those ethnic backgrounds but as you go up the ladder, coaching and management at board level, it’s sort of just drops away. I think it’s an important topic because there is more and more Pacific Island and Maori being involved in sport and for them to be even more successful there needs to be a presence at the management level as well, not just at the playing level,” Mr Holland says.

His next step is to hold focus groups and interviews with Maori and Pacific sports administrators to help develop a strategy to attract more into the sector.

AWARD FOR ARTS WORK AMONG MENTALLY ILL

Auckland's Toi Ora Live Arts Trust has won a prize for its work among people with mental health problems.

The trust was established in the mid-1990s as a place where people, including significant numbers of Maori, could create art as part of their recovery, including everything from creative writing to fine arts, music and film.

He says it’s a non-judgmental environment where people can relax and be creative as part of their recovery.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

PM defends Taitokerau mining consultation

The Prime Minister says Tai Tokerau iwi were consulted about plans to conduct an aerial survey to identify mineral deposits in Northland.

Te Rawara chair Haami Piripi says Maori have been left out of the loop because the Crown has assumed ownership of the most valuable minerals.

But John Key says there are opportunities for discussion throughout the process.

“The far north and the West Coast of the South Island, both will be subject to an aerial survey of non-schedule 4 land so they’re not the pristine conservation stuff. We’re gong to fly over, have a good look, decide whether there is much there. At that point we will say ‘yes there are substantial mineral deposits there and we want to issue a prospecting license,’ at that stage then obviously there will be potential discussions,” Mr Key says.

Maori would have rights to minerals found on their land, other than gold, silver, oil and gas.

TREND DOWN IN GAMBLING MACHINE THROUGHPUT

The manager of a Maori problem gambling support group says while spending on pokies is tracking down nationally, there are still too many pokies in poor communities with high Maori and Polynesian populations.

The Department of Internal Affairs has reported 4.5 percent drop in the amount going through gambling machines in the year to June, and a cumulative 10 percent drop since 2007.

Total spending was just under $850 million.

Zoe Hawke from Hapai Te Hauora in Auckland says while her organisation is happy with the trend, there is no room for complacency.

“We still are concerned that pokie machines still are in lower social communities which means the money that is spent is coming from people who are struggling, so that is still something we need to be working at,” Ms Hawke says.

HOREKE DUMPS THE POKIES

Meanwhile, one of those poorer communities is celebrating its new pokie-free status.

The Horeke Tavern in south Hokianga ditched its machines last year, bucking a trend which has given Northland one of the highest concentrations of gaming machines in the country.

Leasee Tunisia Joyce says she's glad to see them gone.

“It just drew the people away from one another. We used to socialise a lot. When those things ame in it just stopped. I think the pokie machines divided the community,” Mrs Joyce says.

WAKATU KNOCKED BACK ON AQUACULTURE CENTRE PLAN

Wakatu Incorporation will go back to the Government to seek support for a major aquaculture centre near Nelson.

Chief executive Keith Palmer says the Ministry for Economic Development turned down a request for $10 million, most of which was to build a pipeline bringing seawater to the Horoirangi Centre of Seafood and Aquaculture to allow for commercial-scale development of aquaculture ponds, hatcheries and incubators.

He says government seems to have its wires crossed about the development, which is a joint venture with the Cawthron Institute and the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology.

“Government seemed to change the rules and say it wasn’t scientifically based enough and we said no, we’ve got the scientific base. What this whole project is abut was converting the research we already have into a commercial base and therefore creating the jobs and the foreign income we want which is the end game of the whole lot, to create a working industry, not to create more science,” Mr Palmer says.

Wakatu is prepared to invest more than $20 million on the project, but it considered the pipeline was infrastructure which should rightly be paid for out of public funds.

BARRIER IWI BARRIER TO MINING

The Prime Minister, John Key, says Great Barrier iwi had a strong influence factor in the Government's decision to back away from opening up schedule 4 conservation land to mining.

“Gerry Brownlee went over and actually had a formal meeting with iwi over there. Their views were heavily taken into account and are one of the reasons we didn’t proceed and there are a number on the Barrier but certainly there was full consultation with iwi and we took on board their comment,” Mr Key says.

Iwi are also being consulted about a proposal to survey Northland by air to idenify mineral deposits.

BUSH KEEN TO CREATE ALTERNATIVE MAORI SPORTS ADMIN

Former All Black Bill Bush says it's time for Maori to take sports management into their own hands.

After last week's hui of Maori sporting leaders called by Maori Affairs Mnister Pita Sharples, Te Puni Kokiri has set up a working party to look at forming a new Maori sports body.

Mr Bush says it's not about breaking away from organisations like the New Zealand Rugby Union, but about creating alternatives for Maori sports people using Maori resources.

“We're gonna try and set up a putea by getting sponsors. If Sealord comes on board, 50 percent owned by Maori, they’ve very happy with what happened over the three games and they’d probably put more in and we’d go and look for some more,” Mr Bush says.

PM defends Taitokerau mining consultation

The Prime Minister says Tai Tokerau iwi were consulted about plans to conduct an aerial survey to identify mineral deposits in Northland.

Te Rawara chair Haami Piripi says Maori have been left out of the loop because the Crown has assumed ownership of the most valuable minerals.

But John Key says there are opportunities for discussion throughout the process.

“The far north and the West Coast of the South Island, both will be subject to an aerial survey of non-schedule 4 land so they’re not the pristine conservation stuff. We’re gong to fly over, have a good look, decide whether there is much there. At that point we will say ‘yes there are substantial mineral deposits there and we want to issue a prospecting license,’ at that stage then obviously there will be potential discussions,” Mr Key says.

Maori would have rights to minerals found on their land, other than gold, silver, oil and gas.

TREND DOWN IN GAMBLING MACHINE THROUGHPUT

The manager of a Maori problem gambling support group says while spending on pokies is tracking down nationally, there are still too many pokies in poor communities with high Maori and Polynesian populations.

The Department of Internal Affairs has reported 4.5 percent drop in the amount going through gambling machines in the year to June, and a cumulative 10 percent drop since 2007.

Total spending was just under $850 million.

Zoe Hawke from Hapai Te Hauora in Auckland says while her organisation is happy with the trend, there is no room for complacency.

“We still are concerned that pokie machines still are in lower social communities which means the money that is spent is coming from people who are struggling, so that is still something we need to be working at,” Ms Hawke says.

HOREKE DUMPS THE POKIES

Meanwhile, one of those poorer communities is celebrating its new pokie-free status.

The Horeke Tavern in south Hokianga ditched its machines last year, bucking a trend which has given Northland one of the highest concentrations of gaming machines in the country.

Leasee Tunisia Joyce says she's glad to see them gone.

“It just drew the people away from one another. We used to socialise a lot. When those things ame in it just stopped. I think the pokie machines divided the community,” Mrs Joyce says.

WAKATU KNOCKED BACK ON AQUACULTURE CENTRE PLAN

Wakatu Incorporation will go back to the Government to seek support for a major aquaculture centre near Nelson.

Chief executive Keith Palmer says the Ministry for Economic Development turned down a request for $10 million, most of which was to build a pipeline bringing seawater to the Horoirangi Centre of Seafood and Aquaculture to allow for commercial-scale development of aquaculture ponds, hatcheries and incubators.

He says government seems to have its wires crossed about the development, which is a joint venture with the Cawthron Institute and the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology.

“Government seemed to change the rules and say it wasn’t scientifically based enough and we said no, we’ve got the scientific base. What this whole project is abut was converting the research we already have into a commercial base and therefore creating the jobs and the foreign income we want which is the end game of the whole lot, to create a working industry, not to create more science,” Mr Palmer says.

Wakatu is prepared to invest more than $20 million on the project, but it considered the pipeline was infrastructure which should rightly be paid for out of public funds.

BARRIER IWI BARRIER TO MINING

The Prime Minister, John Key, says Great Barrier iwi had a strong influence factor in the Government's decision to back away from opening up schedule 4 conservation land to mining.

“Gerry Brownlee went over and actually had a formal meeting with iwi over there. Their views were heavily taken into account and are one of the reasons we didn’t proceed and there are a number on the Barrier but certainly there was full consultation with iwi and we took on board their comment,” Mr Key says.

Iwi are also being consulted about a proposal to survey Northland by air to idenify mineral deposits.

BUSH KEEN TO CREATE ALTERNATIVE MAORI SPORTS ADMIN

Former All Black Bill Bush says it's time for Maori to take sports management into their own hands.

After last week's hui of Maori sporting leaders called by Maori Affairs Mnister Pita Sharples, Te Puni Kokiri has set up a working party to look at forming a new Maori sports body.

Mr Bush says it's not about breaking away from organisations like the New Zealand Rugby Union, but about creating alternatives for Maori sports people using Maori resources.

“We're gonna try and set up a putea by getting sponsors. If Sealord comes on board, 50 percent owned by Maori, they’ve very happy with what happened over the three games and they’d probably put more in and we’d go and look for some more,” Mr Bush says.

Mineral survey upsets Piripi

A far north iwi leader says a plan to mineral resources in the region will rile Maori.

The Northland Regional and Far North District Councils yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Economic Development to conduct an aeromagnetic minerals survey of one and quarter million hectares.

Haami Piripi from Te Runanga O Te Rarawa says tangata whenua were left out because the Crown has taken the rights to the most valuable metals.

He says it undermines work being done to settle Muriwhenua treaty claims.

“This is very serious issue from our point of view. It reflects the extent to which there is any goodwill on the part of the Crown in terms of treaty settlements. We see the conservation estate as not available for treaty settlements but it is available for mining. That really expresses the hypocrisy,” Mr Piripi says.

The Credit Reforms Responsible Lending Bill would cap interest rates and require money lenders to not only make sure the borrower understands all the provisions of the loan contract but also that they can afford to make the payments.

The Labour list MP says predatory lenders are pushing some of New Zealand's poorest families into a spiral of bad debt by charging extremely high interest and fees.

“Some of the most vulnerable communities and some of our lowest income New Zealanders are being really hurt. Clearly that has big impacts on Pacific communities, on Maori communities, and on low income people generally,” Ms Beaumont says.

She is picking up widespread community support for the bill.

COMMUNITY KAPA HAKA GETS HAWAII OPPORTUNITY

An Auckland-based community kapa haka is preparing for its first overseas trip.

Nga Uri a te Waiotaiki from Glen Innes has been invited to perform at next month's Te Manahua competition at the Polynesian Vistors Centre in Hawaii.

Spokesperson Georgie Thompson says the roopu has been preparing for three years, raising nearly $100 thousand from hangi sales, art auctions and raffles.

She says the competion is open to entries worldwide, but she was careful not to mislead the Hawaiian organisers, who were happy to have them there as a community whanau group.

FAR NORTH MAYOR DISMISSES MINING OBJECTION

The chair of the Far North District Council, Wayne Brown, says he's surprised to hear Maori are upset by plans to map the region's mineral resources.

The Northland Regional and Far North councils yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Economic Development to conduct an areomagnetic minerals survey over 1.25 million hectares.

MPs Hone Harawira and Kelvin Davis say it is a cause of concern, while te Rarawa chair Haami Piripi says tangata whenua were left out of negotiations.

Mr Brown says Maori were consulted widely.

“Iwi groups I met, they were all keen about the idea. I mean it is their people who are working in the china clays mine. It’s the first I’ve heard of that. I don’t believe it if they said that. They forget what they do in the course of a day,” Mr Brown says.

He says the MPs need to spend less time in Wellington and more in Northland to find what iss going on.

WAKATU DEVELOPS NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERS

A Human Rights Commission study on what people consider is a decent place to work has singled out Nelson's Wakatu Incorporation for the way it runs its mentoring programme.

Wakatu chief executive Keith Palmer says the incorporation looks at its whanau and shareholders for people in their 30s with tertiary qualifications and business experience would could be directors in future.

They spend two years as an associate director on first a subsidiary company and then on the main board, which oversees $250 million in land, horticulture and aquaculture assets.

He says the scheme was started by former chair Steve Marshall and then deputy Paul Morgan, who were concerned the board was stagnating.

“That's why we started to think about it 10 years ago and our board was actually getting older. There was no young blood coming in. You need young people with a different viewpoint to the world and a different way of thinking and a more open mind so it was a problem we were experiencing but which we'd foreseen,” Mr Palmer says.

At the last election two of the former mentorees were elected to the board.

LEADERSHIP LESSONS FOR AUCKLAND NURSES AND MIDWIVES

Meanwhile, the Auckland District Health Board is offering leadership training for Maori nurses and midwives.

Taima Campbell, the board's executive director of nursing, says Nga Manukurao Apopo will have separate streams for emerging leaders and for experienced nurses and midwives already working in leadership roles.

She says it parallels a drive to get more clinicians involved in hospital management.Ms Campbell says the course has been designed around the Maori preference for learning in group settings, so there will be four two-day noho marae over four months, starting in September.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Young Maori vulnerable to 90 day rule

Labour leader Phil Goff says extending the 90-day job probation period to all workplaces makes young Maori even more vulnerable.

Mr Goff says National's employment law reforms plans unveiled at the weekend take away basic rights of fairness in the workplace.

He says allowing bosses to fire people without giving a reason isn't the recipe for luring people off the dole queue.

“There's more young Maori in the workforce proportionately than other groups and those are the most vulnerable in any case. In an environment of high unemployment they are going to find they have got even less employment security,” Mr Goff says.

The existing law covering firms with under 20 staff has already resulted in many cases of people being dismissed without finding out why.

VIGILANCE NEEDED TO PREVENT RHEUMATIC FEVER

A Kaitaia GP wants doctors and whanau to be more vigilant when treating children with sore throats.

This week 600 far north children are being tested for respiratory illness.

Dr Lance O'Sullivan of Ngati Maru says similar scanning programmes in South Auckland and Kawerau had picked up a high rate of previously undiagnosed rheumatic heart disease amongst Maori.

He says that can happen when strep throat turns into rheumatic fever ... but many overseas-trained doctors may not have seen a case and won't think of it.

“Because rheumatic fever is so common among Maori and Pacific Island children we have to be thinking this could be a rheumatic fever, a rheumatic heart disease causing sore throat, let’s make sure we do the appropriate thing, let’s take a throat swab and treat them with penicillin if their chances of having a strep throat is likely,” Mr O'Sullivan says.

Whanau need to push their doctor or nurse to check their children for strep throat even if they think it's only a cold or virus.

ONLINE VOTING FOR MAORI BOOK AWARDS

Supporters of Maori publishing are being urged to go online and vote for their favourites in the Nga Kupu Ora Maori Book Awards.

“It's one way that we can be sure these books are getting the attention they deserve because people go out of their way to look at the books and give them due consideration so the awards are all about promoting books on Maori subjects so we really want people to take the time to have a look at the items,” Mr Lilley says.

A link to the voting page can be found through the news section on Massey University's web site, and voting closes on August 1.

NGAI TAHU KAUMATUA TE PURU O TE RANGI PARATA DIES

Ngau Tahu and Ngati Kahungunu today fareweled Te Puru o Te Rangi Parata, who died this week at the age of 73.

Mr Parata's career in the Maori Affairs department and the Maori Land Court started in 1955 after leaving Dannevirke High School, and he continued to consult on land and whakapapa issues until three years ago, including a spell unraveling the Ngai Tahu Ancillary Claims.

He was a keen performer with kapa haka groups throughout his life, and also served on school boards, local government, the Ngai Tahu Maori Trust Board and the Ngai Tahi Economic Development Committee.

Mr Parata was awarded a Queens Service Medal in the New Years Honours for his community service.

WHANAU ORA PROVIDER BEST FOR PRISON HEALTH

One of the authors of a report on the health needs of prisoners and their families says change could come under the Whanau Ora model.

The report by the National Health Committee report called for responsibility for health care in prisons to shifted from Corrections to the health sector.

“At least of the recommendations was centered on a more comprehensive and integrated seamless approach to health service delivery and we saw that outcome or objective fairly consistent with the notion of Whanau Ora, particularly given the prison population, there are a high number of Maori there unfortunately,” he says.

Job probation justification not stacking up

Maori Party leader Tariana Turia says National has failed to come up with evidence the 90-day probation for new employees has created opportunities for young Maori.

The trial period now applies to firms with under 20 people, but the Government now intends to extend the policy to all workplaces.

The Maori Party voted against the 2008 Employment Relations Amendment Bill, which was passed uder urgency without going through a select committee.

Mrs Turia says this time her party will want to scrutinise claims the policy would result in employers giving more opportunities to young people.

“That is not the Maori experience. We’ve got 27 percent of our young people under 24 years of age unemployed. Now those are very high numbers and we are really concerned about those numbers and I guess our challenge will be to employers that over the next few months we will be watching very closely to see if those numbers drop,” Mrs Turia says.

Budget papers released last week show more than $20 million is being saved by cutting back research, training and promotion and dropping the Like Minds Like Mine campaign.

Ms Dyson says Maori are high users of many of the services affected.

“A lot of the areas where we have seen cuts we do unfortunately have a higher percentage of Maori in those areas than we do in the general population. In mental health there is a higher percentage of Maori, Drug and alcohol is the same, and also in areas where we have absolutely preventable conditions,” Ms Dyson says.

COUNCIL TRIES INFORMAL PARTITIONS TO UP RATES TAKE

The Far North District Council is trying a new way to collect rates on Maori land.Mayor Wayne Brown says $14 million is owed on Maori freehold land, up from $11 million last year.

He says rather than waste effort trying to collect on unimproved multiply-owned land, it's levying rates only on the bits that are lived on.

“Desperation is the mother of invention so we’re trying all these things and I think it might work. There are some Maori in those areas with investment in their houses and some of them are prepared to pay rates and we’d like more of them to because at the same time Maori are getting quite restive and demanding all sorts of sewerage and everything but they’re not contributing towards the funding of it,” Mr Brown says.

A third of land in the region is owned by Maori and other third by the Department of Conservation, who don't pay rates either.

YOUNG WOMEN NOT STAYING IN VIOLENT RELATIONSHIPS

The head of the Women's Refuge organisation says young wahine are no-longer accepting being bashed.

Heather Henare says while reports of domestic violence are increasing, young Maori women are less likely to stay in violent relationships than years past.

She says many of the Maori women coming through refuges are in their early 20s.

“That suggests that young women are not staying in violent relationships forever and a day and leaving when the damage has been done to the children and are worn out from the violence and we want whanau to come behind them and say this violence is not okay, we don’t accept your behaviour,” Ms Henare says.

She says 55 percent of women seeking Refuge help are Maori.

HISTORIC PLACE ACT ALIGNED WITH RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The Historic Places Trust says proposed changes to its act will help it to address Maori concerns more appropriately.

Culture and Heritage Minister Chris Finlayson wants to bring the Historic Places Act in line with the Resource Management Act to create a more streamlined application process for property developers and owners who want to modify, damage or destroy historic sites.

Rick McGovern-Wilson, the trust's senior archaeologist, says although the process will be simpler and shorter, protection levels should remain the same.

“Because we'll only have one category of application for an authority, all applications for sites of interest to Maori will now go to our Maori Heritage Council and they will then be able to give advice and have input to those applications whereas previously only applications for a Section 12 authority would go to the Maori Heritage Council,” Dr McGovern-Wilson says.

Boyd Broughton from anti smoking group ASH says a while the long term trend shows a decline in Maori smoking rates, the level of uptake among teenage girls and in low socioeconomic areas is still too high.

He says May's tobacco tax rise led to a spike in the number of calls to Quitline and sales of nicotine patches, but the message didn't get through to hardcore Maori smokers.

“Along with the tax rise there needed to be an increase support specifically for Maori, specifically for those who don’t want to give up their cigarettes and will sacrifice the milk and bread. They’re more heavily addicted and we knew they would exist and we asked for targeted support and increased support which hasn’t eventuated as of yet,” Mr Broughton says.

Maori parents need to play their part and not smoke in front of their tamariki.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Party wary of employment act changes

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia has endorsed a Government plan to restrict union access to work sites.

But she says the party is not convinced by arguments that the 90-day trial period for new workers should be extended to large firms.

The changes were part of the industrial law reform packaged outline to the weekend's National Party conference by Prime Minister John Key.

Mrs Turia says she can see the merit of unions seeking approval from the boss before they get on-site access to members.

“My husband's been self-employed most of his life and I don’t think he’d have appreciated anybody coming onto site and speaking to his workers without first talking to him. I think it’s a courtesy thing so I don’t have any difficulty with that part of it,” she says.

Mrs Turia says there is no evidence the 90 day probation has led to employers taking on more young Maori.

REFUGE WANTING TO SEE CHANGE IN CULTURAL ATTITURE

New Zealand Womens Refuge says awareness campaigns have increased the amount of domestic violence being reported, but they have not resulted in any change of attitude by abusers.

Refuge launched its annual appeal today.

Chief executive Heather Henare says just over half of those seeking help from Refuge are Maori.

The service took a crisis call every nine minutes last year, and on average 23 women a week reported a weapon was used against them.

“We haven't yet addressed the core of the problem and the core of the problem is changing the attitude of New Zealanders throughout Aotearoa to actually treat women and children differently and to accept hat violence is not ok and that families, that women and children need to be treated with love and respect,” Ms Henare says.

She says 41 New Zealanders were killed by members of their own family last year, twice the number as the previous year.

PORKBONE AND PUHA DIET WORTHY OF FUTHER STUDY

Rugby player turned health campaigner Taine Randell wants a study into what food is right for Maori.

The former All Black involved whanau at his local te Aranga Marae in Flaxmere in a 10-week high protein high fat diet which included traditional pork bone and puha boil-ups, and resulted in participants losing an average of 8 kgs in weight.

He says Maori have a different metabolism than Pakeha, but it's not something the researchers want to look at.

“There's never been any scientific studies on what is right for Maori nutrition. There’s the western European food pyramid and that has been plonked on Maori to day this is what we think is right for you, and we think that’s wrong for Maori,” Mr Randell says.

He says Maori traditionally had more protein and fat in their diet but did not eat gluten-rich food like bread and pasta.

EMPLOYMENT CHANGES ATTACK ON WORKFORCE

Maori trade unionist Matt McCarten says changes to employment law announced by the Prime Minister at the weekend are the biggest attack on workers rights since 1991.

Mr McCarten says many workers including Maori may have voted for National because they saw Mr Key as a moderate.

But he says extending the 90 day trial from new workers to large workplaces, and stopping union organisers entering sites without the employer's OK are anything but moderate.

“This will put the bosses absolutely in change, we will have a feudal lord and master versus the serfs relationship and people will know they’ve got to kiss butt to stay in jobs and then it will build a culture and what it will also allow is for bad management to become the norm,” Mr McCarten says.

He says the 400,000 New Zealanders who start a new job each year will have to endure three months when they can be fired at will.

REGIONAL GOVERNANCE PICKED FOR WHANAU ORA

More than 50 community leaders have been appointed to sit alongside officials from the Ministry of Social Development, Te Puni Kokiri and district health boards to oversee the roll out of the Whananu Ora programme.

Rob Cooper, the chair of the national Whanau Ora Governance Group, says the regional leadership groups reflect the engagement with people that is at the heart of the new service delivery policy.

He says the positive response to the call for nominations produced an outstanding choice of candidates.

“Nominations I think reflect the hope that people have in having people represent their thoughts and ideas in ways that maybe they’ve done before effectively, so I think got some advocates in there, they’re all thinkers, there’s no question about that, and I think they’re optimistic people as well, I would suggest,” Mr Cooper says.

One of the first tasks of the 10 regional leadership groups will be to help with selecting Whanau Ora providers in their areas.

NEW EDITION OF NEW ZEALAND PLACE NAMES

A New Zealand classic which uncovered the original Maori names for much of the landscape is about to be reborn.

Former Reed publishing manager Peter Dowling has updated A W Reed's Place Names of New Zealand, and it will be published by Raupo later this month.He enlisted Maori oral historians, linguists and the Geographic Board to track down changes since the original 1975 edition.

Mr Dowling says tribal histories published in recent years have uncovered a lot of information about names which was not available to Alexander Reed, and there are also people still alive who have access to information not previously published.

Attacks on unions attacks on Maori

The president of the Council of Trade Unions, Helen Kelly, says attacks on unions will have a devastating impact on many Maori workers.

Hundreds of unionists protested outside the National Party Conference in Auckland yesterday against proposed changes to industrial law which would make it easier for employers to sack workers.

Ms Kelly says Prime Minister John Key’s speech to the conference amounted to a long list of attacks on worker rights, starting with their right to see their union at their workplace.

“Many more Maori in terms of percentage density are in unions and they support unions and they will know what workplaces are like where unions are oppressed and what we know about unionized workplaces, they get getter pay increases, they have collective agreements and all of those things will be stifled by a reduction in union rights of access,” Ms Kelly says.

She says the government’s plans are a breach of international law.

HARAWIRA TARGETS FOREIGN MINERS

Taitokerau MP Hone Harawira says the Maori Party is considering a policy that foreign buyers should only be able to lease and not buy land.

Mr Harawira says he was asked to draft a bill on foreign ownership for submission to the ballot for member’s bills.

He says it’s an issue which will strike a chord in his electorate.

“I was just asked to put forward this particular issue because we’re talking about Crafar Farms and all that stuff down the line but those sorts of things are likely to impact up our way as well particularly with a lot of the mining interests showing a lot of interests in some of the blocks as well as offshore here in the Taitokerau,” Mr Harawira says.

He says laws limiting foreign ownership of key assets are not unusual internationally.

VISUAL ARTS GET RANGATAHI ON LEARNING PATH

A new alternative education initiative will bring together at risk youth with artists.

Sarah Longbottom, who works with alternative education providers in south Auckland, says the Nga Rangatahi Toa Creative Arts workshops will expose the students to arts including panting and graffiti, weaving, photography, fashion design and filmmaking.

She says the visual arts can be the most effective way to start developing her Maori students’ literacy and numeracy skills.

“What they have universally is the fact they universally is they are not read-write learners so their time in mainstream school socialy might have been hard, behaviorally might have been hard but academically was super-hard not because they’re not gifted kids, it’s just because they’re not taught in the way that they learn. They’re all visual and kinaesthetic learners, so that is the way to communicate with kids,” Ms Longbottom says.

SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR TO ASSESS TREATY COMPLIANCE

New Zealand's record on human and indigenous rights will come under scrutiny over the next week as United Nations Special Rapporteur, James Anaya, talks to Crown and Maori representatives.

Moana Jackson, who worked with Professor Anaya on drafting the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, says it's good the Apache lawyer is able to get to Aotearoa so early in his term.

He says issues like the reform of the Foreshore and Seabed Act are likely to be top of the agenda.

IN: He already has a working knowledge of the existing foreshore and seabed legislation, and will want to monitor how the new proposal stacks up against that. He will also be very interested in the fall out from the so called terrorist raids in Tuhoe. As well as specific issues he would want to get a sense of how Maori people feel things are going, things that still need to be improved as well as things that are working well,” Mr Jackson says.

After meetings with government officials early in the week, Professor Anaya will attend a hui at Te Tii Marae in Waitangi on Wednesday.

HEALTH, NOT CORRECTIONS NEEDS TO OVERSEE PRISON HEALTH

A former head of Corrections has endorsed a call for prisoner health to be the responsibility of the health rather than the prison service.

Kim Workman, who is now with prison reform group Rethinking Crime and Punishment, says the National Health Committee’s report on the issue highlights the poor health of many inmates.

He says overseas examples suggest the change would bring benefits.

“The primary concern for the department is to manage risk, keeping the place ticking over, not necessarily promoting good health, and the experience of places like New South Wales where they have transferred the services to the health sector has been a considerable improvement in the health of prisoners,” Mr Workman says.

He says 80 percent of prisoners are in jail for less than 3 months, and most arrive with health issues, especially drug and alcohol problems.

Te Kaupoi, which has a short season in Papakura this week to end the Taonga Whakaari: Maori Playwright Festival, is set in a near future when the rocked by internal terrorism after parliament abolishes the Maori seats.

Ms Brunning says it’s even more relevant than when writer Whiti Hereaka first came up with the idea a decade ago.

“It kind of was brewing in her brain and then the terrorist raids in Tuhoe occurred and I think she realised what she was actually writing was becoming relevant with the politics of the day,” Ms Brunning says.